well in my wisdom i decided to take off my front brake, now this was all fine until i went to replace my handlebars and realised theres nothing to screw it to, theres like a long bolt with no threads to screw it to. i took it apart about a month ago(have been on holiday since) so i cant remember exacxtly how it all came apart but i thought i had unscrewed this bolt bit which goes down into the headset (the tube which then becomes the forks) but theres nothing there so my handlebars just lift off now coz i cant secure them so obviously i cant ride it. is it possible my handlebars where secured to the bike by my front brake?? seems odd to me, but i just cant remember now.

any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated as i cant ride at the minute. Oh...and yes i have learned the valuble lesson of making sure you know how something came apart so you can put it back together again and save the embarassment of having to post a dumb message on a message board:-))

Seams to me he has a 1" threaded fork and stem with a quill bolt. It looks like what you did is when you were loosening up the bolt you loosened it all the way...this shouldnt be done because at the end of the quill bolt is a wedge that the bolt threads into...it seems you loosened this too much and the wedge fell down inside your fork. Check there by turning the fork upside down (with it out of the bike obviously) and bang it and shake it a little. if nothing falls out chances are you lost it or its just jammed inside the fork.

It should look something like this...

Your probably missing that little black thing at the very bottom of the quill right? If you really need one you can pick one up for cheap at a bike shop or even off an old bike..you dont need the whole stem, just the quill and wedge. If this doesnt work...e-mail me with your address and I would be happy to send you one that will work.